


It's All Fun and Games 'til Somebody Falls in Love

by orphan_account



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: High School AU, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Trans Simmons, Trans Tucker, ill try to make it slow burn but i cant make any promises
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 08:52:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7677982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wash genuinely didn't think he'd get the part, but when he does, he become the school's next Romeo Montague and gets thrown into a new crowd of people. Scratch that, a new crowd of <i>idiots<i></i></i>.<br/>Although it was difficult for him to picture any of them getting along with each other, all jagged edges and mismatched jigsaw pieces, somehow they've found a family in one another, and Wash naturally finds himself getting drawn into this family as well, no matter how much him and certain others don't want him to be.<br/>In the center of this family is Lavernius Tucker, the infamous enigma of the play. The infamous enigma that Wash may or may not keep thinking about kissing.<br/>So, you know what? Maybe getting casted as Romeo wasn't all that bad for Wash. Maybe this family can do him some good. And just maybe, if he can get over his fear of stage fright and rejection, he can get his Happily Ever After after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's All Fun and Games 'til Somebody Falls in Love

**Author's Note:**

> hi these first couple of chapters are. absolute garbage because ive had them sitting around in my google drive for a while and no amount of touching up can fix these messes. dont worry though because after chapter 2, the writing should get better!!!!!!!!

 

¨You...seriously think I’d get a part in the play?¨ Wash’s tone was flat as he stared Connie down. Because her attention was divulged more towards finding an empty parking spot instead of Wash’s sarcasm, she hardly even noticed.

 

¨Yes!¨ Connie scoffed exasperatedly, sparing him only a glance before returning her attention to her search, ¨You’re here now, so you might as well try. Just for the hell of it.¨

 

¨All I’d do is embarrass myself!¨ Wash huffed, looking out his window at the few people leaving their cars, ¨I’ve never even taken drama before.¨

 

¨So? Doesn’t mean you can’t act. C’mon, do it for me please.¨

 

That _fucker_ . She knew, she knew that she was Wash’s soft spot, and that if she wanted him to do something for her, he would. Because of this fact, she didn’t bother prodding further for an answer because she was already well-aware that she’d already won. No need to kick a man while he’s down.

 

Even though he was willing to go through with it, that didn’t stop him from bitching about it the entire time they spent walking in and waiting for their turns. They were called up in alphabetical order, so Connie was the third person to go up there.

 

This also meant Wash was the dead last person to go. The worst possible time for him to go, because then everybody would remember his shitty performance, if only his last name was Ash or Adams or _anything but Washington_.

 

A whole myriad of people auditioned. Most were good, some were...not so good. The only two people to go before Connie were a tall Asian kid who had to ask what the line was after every word he missed (which was all of them), and Carolina. Connie and Wash were sure he wouldn’t get a part and whispered about him, but stayed fearfully silent for the entirety of Carolina’s audition.

 

After Connie was a stout kid that gave off a complete and utter ‘I don’t want to be here’ vibe and kept messing with the drawstrings on his periwinkle hoodie as if he was nervous but trying to hide it. He was OK, but definitely didn’t stand out at all.

 

Connie and Wash applauded loudly as North walked up on stage. He sent them both a sharp look to warn them to stop but a small smile still tugged at his lips.  

 

Next was that one flamboyant kid that everyone in school seemed to know. He was over-the-top as everyone had expected and was really, really, _really_ expressive with his lines. Horribly so.

 

The next person to audition was Flamboyant Boy’s shy boyfriend who tripped on his purple sarong while walking across the stage. Everybody snickered except for Wash, who just flushed with secondhand embarrassment because what if he does that? It wouldn’t be any different, they would laugh and he would probably just walk off the stage and out the room and right off a damn cliff.

 

Next was some short, fat kid who also gave off a vibe of ‘I don’t want to be here’ too, but more of a ‘I would much rather be napping than doing anything right now’ vibe than ‘I’m angry and insecure and therefore am taking it out on this event I’m at right now.’

 

After that was the third girl that auditioned out of a grand total of five (including Connie.) Her tits were practically _hanging_ out the whole time and she flubbed each line but tried to substitute some different, random words that would most certainly not be in a Shakespearian play. The short, fat kid looked horrified the whole time and seemed to gesture at her to fix her shirt, but she completely ignored him.

 

The next one was one that completely astounded both Connie and Wash. It was a guy that looked much too old to be in high school that read through all of his lines _in Spanish_. Not a single word was English, so nobody understood him, but it seemed that the only people confused by this were Connie and Wash. From what they could tell, though, he did a good job despite the language barrier.

 

After this was that one guy that sat at Wash’s table in History class who had always either taking selfies or scanning the room. Surprisingly, he did better than anybody else, so Wash felt a sudden, horrible pressure in his gut. Even if everybody else aside from Connie so far have sucked, the bar was now set horribly high by the conceited kid ( _Goddamn you, Felix_ ) and Wash would never be able to reach it. He’d fail everybody.

 

Even with Wash’s inner turmoil, the auditions continued to go on and before he knew it, they went through an unbelievably-average girl with a kind yet monotone voice, the scrawny ginger that the fat kid from earlier had been elbowing harshly in the side, an intimidating blonde girl (that Wash recognized from her showing up every so often in his friend group), and some black kid that seemed like he could do an OK job if he stopped glancing up at the kid with the hoodie to smirk or snicker, and finally, the words echoed throughout the auditorium menacingly.

 

¨David Washington.¨

 

God, no.

 

God, just fucking…. _no,_ could he back out now?

 

No. No, he couldn’t because Connie pushed him up and now he was standing with everybody’s attention turned towards him and he couldn’t leave now because now they expected him to try. So with that, he took shaky steps forward and found himself on the stage with a dry throat. He glanced back at Connie, who sent him an encouraging thumbs up.

 

¨I-Is...¨ His voice cracked on the very first word, so he cleared his throat and tried to ignore the light chuckles that sprouted up from around the auditorium before taking a deep breath in and lost all fucks to give with his exhale. Might as well throw himself into it. It wasn’t like he’d actually get a part, right? ¨Is the day so young?¨

 

It went well until he read the last needed line, Wash’s face flushed suddenly with realization that, Jesus, it was finally done with. God bless. He all but ran off the stage to Connie, who beamed proudly and threw her arms around him.

 

¨I told you! I _told_ you you’d do well!¨ Connie squealed, pulling away from him to look him in the face.

 

¨Do you seriously think I did a good job?¨ Wash adorned an expression of disbelief, pulling away completely and staring her right in the eye.

 

¨Are you kidding me? I heard the kids in front of me whispering to each other about how good you are,¨ Connie dropped her voice to nearly silent, glancing at the black kid and periwinkle hoodie who were now leaning toward each other and talking about some video game.

 

¨This is the first time in my life I _didn’t_ want to do well,¨ Wash’s eyes widened, his lips pulling down in a frown, ¨That means I get put in the play, and if I get put in the play, I’ll have to go in front of the whole school, and going in front of the school means judgement. I don’t want to be judged, Connie.¨

 

¨Calm down. If you did fine now, then you’ll do great then! Think about it: There’s gonna be months of rehearsals, you’ll have plenty of time to practice. I’m sure the teacher has worked with a ton of people with stage fright, you’re not gonna be the first shy person he’s come across.¨

 

¨Hopefully, I don’t get a part at all,¨ Wash mumbled, too lost in his thoughts to truly hear what she said.

 

* * *

 

 

¨ **_What?!_ ** ¨ Wash’s voice rang out through the hallway, him nearly ripping the paper down in his haste to see it.

 

Right next to the words Romeo Montague was his name.

 

He kept staring at the words.

 

_Romeo Montague - David Washington._

 

_Romeo Montague - David Washington._

 

 _Romeo Montague - David Washington_.

 

No amount of staring could make the letters rearrange, make his name actually be placed after Tree #2 instead of the main male role.

 

Connie rubbed his shoulder comfortingly, glancing at the paper and seeing her name next to Rosaline. Clearly, she felt content with her role while Wash was having a minor mental breakdown over his.

 

As if his negative emotions were a magnet, a swarm of kids crowded around the paper, shoving Wash out of the way to read it. If he hadn’t been dizzy with panic, he would’ve recognized everybody from the auditions.

 

¨Shit!¨ A voice hissed, the one that had apparently been whispering to Periwinkle Hoodie about how good Wash had been.

 

¨Neat! I’ve always wanted to be a prince,¨ Flamboyant Boy beamed, his positivity lost on Wash who left as soon as he regained his balance, Connie in tow. He was clearly ranting to her, arms flailing, unaware of the jealous pairs of eyes on him.

 

Everybody in the group surrounding the paper shared incredulous glances -- The kid didn’t want to be _Romeo_? That’s a pretty big moment, he had even auditioned for the part, and that stuck-up snob couldn’t even appreciate it. It was pretty clear who on the list wasn’t exactly a drama kid.

 

Despite them all silently and mutually judging him, Wash continued to rant about the part the whole drive home, Connie desperately wishing to just spin the steering wheel out of control and murder them both.

 

* * *

 

 

The first rehearsal was the very next day, scripts handed out to each person with their lines highlighted in stripes of an annoying shade of neon yellow (that, Wash was upset to note, resembled the stripes on the hoodie he was wearing) and cue lines highlighted in a dull, baby-barf green that was done by what was clearly a dried-out highlighter.

 

Not much really happened, they were just supposed to glance over the script and begin the memorization process in the auditorium.

 

Some people had already formed small groups together, probably to practice a little bit and get suggestions from one another.

 

Wash stood awkwardly at the back of the room with Connie, flipping through his script mindlessly without truly looking at the words or processing them while she actually did read through hers. He found his eyes wandering often towards the other groups.

 

There weren’t enough people that auditioned to fit all the characters, so they had to pull three of the actual theatre kids that hadn’t auditioned to play as some extras. Wash recognized all of them. One was Butch Florida -- Butch sometimes hung out with Wash’s group of friends but mostly only stuck to Wyoming’s side. Wyoming was also one of the picked few that was forced to play extras. The last one was none other than John Maine, a close mutual friend of both Connie and Wash.

 

The girl with her tits still hanging out had engaged Maine in a very one-sided conversation that neither Connie nor Wash wanted to interrupt.

 

Periwinkle Hoodie and the black kid were still together, this time with the beefy Asian buzzing around them excitedly. Periwinkle Hoodie and the black kid both looked tired and grumbled to each other, occasionally pushing the other around. Sometimes one of them would point at Intimidating Blondie and the black one would snicker while Periwinkle Hoodie blushed furiously, apparently speaking through clenched teeth.

 

Flamboyant Boy, his short boyfriend, the scrawny ginger, and fattie were all in a little group together, El Hombre hanging around them with a bored, annoyed expression on his face. He would try to talk every once in awhile, but everybody else in the group would stare at him strangely after each comment he made. Monotone Girl sat politely in one of the seats situated at the front of the room, eyes scanning the script in her lap.

 

Blondie and Carolina were both reading through their scripts, trying to out-act the other one, waving their arms in sweeping gestures. At one point, Blondie almost hit Carolina with her over-expressive movement and Carolina retaliated by nearly starting a fistfight before Periwinkle Hoodie broke it up by dragging Blondie over to his little squad.

 

Felix was still not bothering to pay any attention to what he should be doing, rather choosing to float around each group with a coy smirk pulling at his lips.

 

Wash turned to Connie, opened his mouth, closed it, and immediately turned back to look at the rest of the people, then finally spoke, ¨I don’t belong here.¨

 

¨What? Of course you do. You get to be the male lead, of course you belong here,¨ Connie didn’t even look up from her script, just bumping him with her arm in a way that oddly comforted him.

 

¨No, I mean...These people. I’m not-- I don’t--¨ Wash gestured at the others, stumbling over his words before giving up on that phrasing and going down a different route, ¨This isn’t _me_. I don’t fit in, and anybody that walks in through those doors right now would be able to tell.¨

 

¨Then go make some friends, dude, it’s not that hard. You’ll be fine if you just go up to them and say ‘Hey, mind if I practice with you guys?’ and if they say no, go find some other people. There’s plenty of nice, vulnerable teens here for the picking,¨ Connie finally looked away from her script as she finished flipping through it. She gestured with it towards Carolina, who was now standing by herself, surveying the room.

 

Connie had to drag Wash over by the arm, him whispering frantically until Carolina was finally in earshot. He finally complied wordlessly, approaching her with a gulp.

 

¨Hey, uh, Carolina. It’s me, Wash. You know, the guy in our group that’s known for having the skateboard that has cat stickers on it?¨ He couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed at her, all his words tumbling out in a rush and in a voice that was again just a little bit too high-pitched for his liking.

 

¨Yeah, I know who you are,¨ Her bemused tone matched the small smile on her face as she leaned back as if to truly witness this trainwreck Wash was becoming.

 

¨Oh, heh, yeah. Well, I was wondering if we could maybe, possibly practice together?¨ Wash squeaked out nervously, terrified she’d rudely decline his offer and maybe even push him around for it, “It’s fine if you don’t want to! I understand!”

 

¨I dunno. Are you hardcore enough to practice with me?¨ She asked, her smile turning to a challenging smirk that, if seen from afar, could be seen as flirting, but, God, Wash was well-aware that that was the smirk she pulled before she started competing with someone and Lord give him the strength to make it through a rehearsal while Carolina was in a competitive mood.

 

¨Uh, yes! I’m very hardcore! In fact, I’m one of the most hardcore people in this room -- Minus you, of course. And Tex. And Maine.¨ Wash could hear Connie trying to muffle laughter from behind him, and he would be cursing her mentally if he wasn’t already constantly screaming internally.

 

¨Very hardcore, cat-boy? Alright, let’s see about that.¨

 

For the next 10 minutes or so, Wash was surprised to find himself enjoying the time he spent trying to be more expressive than Carolina. He was eternally grateful that she was playful with him rather than the lethal disdain she usually had when she was competing against Blondie instead.

 

At this point, they were both yelling their lines, falling dramatically during scenes of despair and using their arms as instruments to portray their character’s mood. Connie, Maine, Flamboyant Boy, the ginger, Periwinkle Hoodie, the black kid, and the Asian had crowded around them, intrigued to see the noobie compete with Carolina -- _she was going easy on him_? What the fuck? They all stared in confused awe with the sole exception being Periwinkle Hoodie. He only scowled at Wash.

 

Wash, however, was completely and blissfully unaware of the stares they were getting, choosing to just lose himself in the not-so-serious practicing they were doing.

 

Once they both finished all their lines, Wash finally snapped out of it and noticed them all. His face flushed, especially when his horrified gaze found Periwinkle Hoodie’s disapproving eyes.

 

¨They’re not as intimidating once you get used to them,¨ Carolina broke him out of this trance by punching him gently in the shoulder and glancing back at the crowd, which caused most of them to disperse quickly. Wash couldn’t tell whether Carolina was talking about stares or the actual people behind the critical gazes.

 

¨I-- Uh, I only know Connie and Maine,¨ Wash mumbled, turning his attention to Carolina instead of the many eyes that still lingered on him when they thought Carolina wasn’t looking.

 

¨Seriously? These people will be your family by the time the play goes up, so you should probably get to know them as soon possible -- Want me to introduce you?¨

 

As Wash had learned, Flamboyant Boy’s name was Franklin Delano Donut and his boyfriend was Frank DuFresne but everybody called him Doc for some reason. Tits Girl was Kaikaina Grif, and fattie was her brother, Dexter. The ginger attached to Dexter’s side was Richard Simmons. El Hombre was Quemadura Lopez. Monotone girl was Sheila, who had a crush on Lopez, but the Asian kid (Michael J. Caboose) had a huge, blatant crush on Sheila. Michael’s friends, Periwinkle Hoodie and the black kid, were actually named Leonard Church and Lavernius Tucker.

 

Wash’s eyes darted from person to person with this information overload, sizing each one up.

 

Doc seemed nice enough, but he got on Wash’s nerves after he spent longer than 5 minutes with him. Plus, he always faded into the background and slipped away without anybody noticing. Kai, Caboose, and Franklin all seemed too overwhelming. Dexter was too lazy and Richard too spazzy. Quemadura didn’t even speak English, Sheila was nearly emotionless, and Leonard already seemed to hate Wash, which made him 10x more intimidating than before. Wash’s best bet for a decent friend was Lavernius.

 

When Leonard left to go to the bathroom, Wash took his chance and, with a little encouragement from Connie, he walked over, fiddling with the corner of his script.

 

¨Hey,¨ Wash mumbled, not looking at Lavernius.

 

¨Hey,¨ Lavernius openly stared at Wash, clearly intrigued.

 

¨Lavernius, right?¨ Wash finally met Lavernius’ eyes to see the other nod, so he continued, ¨Wanna practice together?¨

 

¨Dude, c’mon. Who _actually_ does stuff on the first rehearsal?¨ Lavernius looked at Wash weird before turning away, ¨Anyways, call me Tucker, not Lavernius.¨

 

¨Are we on last name basis?¨ One side of Wash’s mouth pulled down gently and somewhat disapprovingly.

 

¨Nope, I just hate my first name. But we can be on last name basis if you want, Washington,¨ Tucker glanced at him from the corner of his eye, choosing to read his script over for the first time rather than looking at the freckled blonde standing next to him.

 

¨Go ahead, everybody already calls me that, it sounds so much better then Da--¨ Wash paused for a moment, clearly processing what Tucker had said, ¨Wait, wait, wait, how do you know my name?¨

 

¨C’mon, man, you really think you’re the only one who asked Carolina about the people you don’t know?¨ Lavernius scoffed, ¨David Washington. New to theatre and, apparently, new to making friends.¨

 

¨Honestly? That’s not too far off,¨ Wash snorted, rubbing his arm uncomfortably.

 

¨Well, then I guess I’ll take you under my wing, young padawan. I’ll teach you the works here in theatre. First couple of rehearsals are just all of us dicking around and getting to know the new kids, also known as _you_. Then, we start getting serious and spend some time on learning our lines, then after about a month, we have to practice off book and focus on the blocking--¨

 

¨Off book? Blocking?¨ Wash echoed, his eyes wide as he blinked blankly.

 

¨Dude. You really _are_ new to this, aren’t you?¨ Tucker sent Wash an odd, disbelieving look, then sighed, ¨Off book is when you do rehearsals without your script, and blocking is the movement of the stage. Like, finding out where to walk, and what gestures to do and when, entering and exiting the stage. Like...actions and stuff, you know?¨

 

Wash hummed understandingly, which seemed to satisfy Tucker, so he continued.

 

¨We already did the cold reading, so you don’t have to worry your pretty little head about that--¨

 

¨Cold reading?¨ Wash paused before repeating this time.

 

¨Reading out loud from a script you’ve never seen before. That was the audition. Anyways, we work on blocking after lines. The whole month before the play is just making sure the costumes are acceptable, checking that we have all the props, making sure all the mics and sound equipment work. Basic maintenance stuff.¨

 

¨I...¨ Wash hummed, letting the end of his sentence linger.

 

¨Didn’t realize what you were signing up for? Yeah, none of us did for our first play, but most of us have been here for a while, so it should be pretty difficult for you to fuck up too much while you have all of us experienced actors around,¨ Tucker snickered, glancing around the room at the tomfoolery going on.

 

Wash bit his tongue from commenting on the fact that most of the people in that room sucked during the auditions but Tucker seemed to already be well-aware of that little factoid, so the two just stayed quiet for a couple minutes, neither wanting to look at the other but not wanting the conversation to die off just like that.

 

¨So, how much more theatre vocabulary is there that I don’t know?¨ Wash awkwardly prompted.

 

¨Not much actually. On book is a rehearsal with a script in hand, which is what we’re doing now. Load-in is the building of set pieces. Upstaging is when you either turn your back to the audience or someone blocks the audience’s view of another actor--¨

 

¨Wait, so--¨ Wash began, but Tucker cut him off with an eye roll.

 

¨Yeah, yeah, I know, that’s gonna confuse you since blocking is the movement and upstaging is literal blocking. It’s fucking stupid and I don’t understand it either. _Anyways_ , stage directions are pretty important. Another confusing topic for a noobie like you. They’re from the point of view of the actor _,_ so if you’re sitting in those chairs over there,¨ Tucker gestured loosely with his arm, ¨And the director asks you where stage left is, you point to the right side of the stage. But if you’re up on stage and the director tells you to go stage left, you go left. Capisce?¨

 

Wash’s mind couldn’t wrap around what Tucker had just said, so he just let out a confused grunt, blinking blankly.

 

¨Fuck, alright,¨ Tucker glanced at the clock on the other side of the auditorium, ¨Listen, rehearsals are almost over, but if you want, we can hang out after to continue this. You’re the Romeo of our play, so I want you to be the best fucking Romeo this school has ever seen.¨

 

¨No pressure or anything,¨ Wash grumbled and turned his gaze towards where Connie was laughing with Maine, North, and Kaikaina, ¨But I can’t, not today. She’s my ride home.¨

 

¨Oh, don’t worry about that, I live down the street, so I can just grab my car whenever you want to go home--¨ At this moment, Leonard finally appeared again, giving off a haughty aura of ‘ _Fuck off,’_ eyes unwaveringly locked on Wash.

 

¨Come on, Tucker, we have to leave now. Remember? You promised to come with me to pick up Epsilon from school today.¨ Church hissed, tugging Tucker aside by the arm, leaving Wash standing awkwardly by the teacher’s desk. Connie seemed to be taking her sweet time to end her conversation, so he let his eyes follow Tucker and Church as they stormed down the aisle together. Well, it was more Church storming and Tucker being dragged along, but nonetheless all-the-same.

 

That was absolutely the only reason he stared.

 

¨Dude, don’t crush on Tucker. Kid’s weird,¨ Wash jumped at Felix suddenly appearing behind him, slinging a casual arm over his shoulder, ¨I saw you making eyes at our very own Juliet and just wanna warn you against it. Lots of issues up here, you know?¨ Felix tapped a perfectly-manicured nail to his temple, making an odd face at the doors to the auditorium before being interrupted by his phone going off in his free hand, showing a text from someone with the contact name of a stream of emojis that Wash couldn’t quite read in the short time before Felix shut his phone off.

 

¨Well, that was my ride, gotta jet,¨ Felix sent a small wave and a smile Wash’s way, ¨Good luck, Romeo!¨

 

Wash could hardly process what the fuck just happened.

 

Wait, Juliet? Was Tucker playing _Juliet_? Why?

  
As Connie finally waved Wash over, a realization dawned on him that maybe the play itself wasn’t the only thing he was going to get overwhelmed with by the time it went up.

**Author's Note:**

> i would just like to take a very very quick moment to mention 2 things:  
> 1\. i have never auditioned for a play before im so sorry ive only been in one play before in my life and that was a while ago in middle school so naturally this is probably going to be really flawed  
> 2\. all of the characters that dont canonically have first names? i gave them their voice actor's first name. yes, even lopez because you know what Quemadura is spanish for? burn. ayyyyyy  
> also follow me at my tumblr rosesareredidiotsareblue.tumblr.com to screech with me about tuckington or just check the tag that i have for posts about my fanfics to see bonus content and/or upd8s


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